The entries for 2009 have been judged by the members of the Club and the winning cards have been printed professionally. They have been presented to the participating schools and presentations have been made to the prizewinners, who each received a framed copy of their original entry, plus a Smith's token for £25 - and they were also listed as the creator of the winning design on the back of each printed card. These schools took part in 2009: Abacus, Beauchamps, Grange, Runwell Primary, and Wickford C of E. Reporters from the Echo and Essex Chronicle groups of local newspapers attended the presentation at Abacus, and you may spot some of their coverage. If your school would like to take part in the 2010 competition please get in touch with us.

Winning designs from the 2008 competition

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE Provision of “message in a bottle” equipment so that elderly people can give medication details to the emergency services. This is a lifeline for people living sheltered accommodation, for example. “Message in a Bottle” containers are special tubes that are kept in people’s fridges and have all their medical and contact details on a form inside the tube. A special sticker is fixed to the front door of the premises to alert the emergency services to the fact that details are contained in the fridge. If someone falls ill at home, or has an accident, the bottles could help medical teams quickly diagnose what is wrong. The cost of the tubes is covered by the Lions Club

OVERSEAS
The club supports overseas projects by providing donations, such as to the recent tragic earthquake in Haiti, but sometimes we have the opportunity to offer 'hands on' help.

Five members of the Club recently visited our twin club in Harderwijk, The Netherlands, to assist with one of their major Services Projects, which involved taking a group of about 140 elderly and infirm residents on a boat trip on the IJsselmeer and providing them with meals and entertainment.